


Lightning Strikes

by rendawnie



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Memories, Comfort, Conversations, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Literally just disgusting fluff, M/M, Rated T for exactly one swear, Shopping Malls, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rendawnie/pseuds/rendawnie
Summary: Minhyuk sighed, plucking a keychain off the rack near the register he sat behind and twirling it around one finger in dizzying circles. “I’m so bored. This weather is keeping everyone away from the mall.”Moonbin finally brought the rest of himself back inside the shop, yawning. “Good. It’s giving me extra down time to slowly suffocate under the all-consuming weight of my heart swelling,” he replied, unfolding and re-folding a stack of shirts idly, making sure to avoid Minhyuk’s knowing gaze.





	Lightning Strikes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shuuvee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuvee/gifts).



> This was a quick experiment! I don't write a lot of pure fluff. Just wanted to see if I could manage it...

“Would you get back in here, Binnie? I’m pretty sure Dongmin can _smell_ your crush from next door.”

Moonbin rolled his eyes, glancing back into the small shop at his co-worker. “I doubt he can smell much besides the expensive cologne surrounding him, and his own magnificence,” he muttered, straightening up the tiniest bit. “There. Four percent of my body is now back in here.”

Minhyuk sighed, plucking a keychain off the rack near the register he sat behind and twirling it around one finger in dizzying circles. “I’m so bored. This weather is keeping everyone away from the mall.”

Moonbin finally brought the rest of himself back inside the shop, yawning. “Good. It’s giving me extra down time to slowly suffocate under the all-consuming weight of my heart swelling,” he replied, unfolding and re-folding a stack of shirts idly, making sure to avoid Minhyuk’s knowing gaze. It didn’t work for very long, because Minhyuk was a pro at inserting himself into Moonbin’s personal space at the least convenient moments.

Like now.

He sidled over to where Moonbin was standing, trying to act casual. He was trying very hard, actually, but there was always this overwhelming combination of scents wafting over from the fancy perfumery next door to their trendy clothing shop, and Moonbin was always sort of wondering which of the colognes Dongmin favored. He’d never been close enough to find out, except in his dreams.

Minhyuk was about to open his extra large mouth and say something that would probably have caused Moonbin to roll his eyes even harder, but thankfully, Mother Nature had Moonbin’s back, and chose that exact moment to unleash a gigantic thunderclap, one that made the lights in the entire mall flicker dangerously, before they steadied again. It made Minhyuk jump back a step, blinking rapidly.

“God. I hate this,” Minhyuk whined. “Do you want anything from the food court? I have to do _something_ with myself.”

Moonbin blew out a _whoosh_ of air as he thought, the action ruffling his hair slightly. “I could go for a smoothie, I guess,” he pondered, pulling his wallet out.

Minhyuk waved his money away. “I got it. Orange pineapple?”

Moonbin gave him a grateful nod. “Take your time. It’s not like anyone’s going to come in while you’re gone.”

“Yeah,” Minhyuk agreed, chuckling. “We should just go home, honestly.”

Moonbin smiled a little, taking Minhyuk’s vacated spot behind the register. “If only.”

He knew Minhyuk actually _would_ take his time. Minhyuk generally took any opportunity to wander away from his job at the shop, especially if it meant he got to go down to the food court and flirt with his boyfriend, Jinwoo, while he worked at the smoothie counter. Moonbin didn’t mind remaining in the shop alone, really. Maybe he’d try to get some homework done, or something. He had a Modern Lit exam first thing in the morning that he’d barely studied for, thus far.

He’d just finished rummaging around in his backpack behind the counter, liberating the textbook he needed, when a voice sounded from the front of the store.

“Hi, Binnie.”

Moonbin’s head jerked up faster than he was ready for, and he had to force himself not to wince at the slight pain it caused his neck. He succeeded, thankfully, and then he tried to keep what was left of his cool as he watched Lee Dongmin himself enter the small shop.

Dongmin was always dressed in a suit, for work. Today was no exception. Moonbin took in his gray jacket and pants, paired with a soft yellow button-down shirt, and he felt woefully underdressed. His job didn’t require dressing up of any kind. In fact, he and Minhyuk were generally encouraged to come to work looking like they just left the beach, to fit with the aesthetic, so today, Moonbin was wearing a sleeveless shirt and flip flops with his surfer shorts.

He would have expected Dongmin to look out of place, here, but somehow… he fit. He hadn’t waited for Moonbin to reply to his soft greeting, which was good, because Moonbin had _nothing._ He just sort of stared while Dongmin wandered around the displays, closer and closer to the register, as if he had all the time in the world. In reality, Dongmin had very little time left before his very presence caused Moonbin to have a complete meltdown, but Moonbin didn’t tell him that.

Dongmin arrived at Moonbin’s counter just in time for another impressively loud round of thunder, and more electricity flickers, but this time, Moonbin couldn’t really tell if they were really happening, or just his brain reacting to Dongmin. _Shut up._

He watched as Dongmin looked at him wide-eyed, the smile on his face a little shaky. Dongmin swallowed hard, licking his lips for good measure. “Uh… hi,” Dongmin repeated, and Moonbin couldn’t help noticing that he seemed… agitated. Nervous, even. He wondered what was going on, or if he was allowed to ask.

“Hi,” he answered finally, as Dongmin leaned on the counter. Moonbin thought he might have been sweating a little, but it looked good on him. Everything looked good on him.

Also, he could finally _smell_ Dongmin, because Dongmin was leaning over the counter ever so slightly, and he smelled like a Tahitian beach at sunset, and Moonbin thought maybe he might just climb over the counter separating them and do something very, _very_ ill-advised, but thankfully, Dongmin spoke up again.

“How’s it going in here?” he asked, and his voice was shaky, now, too, his eyes darting to and from each corner of the store behind Moonbin. In the distance, another roll of thunder rumbled, making the walls rattle a bit. It was getting closer, Moonbin thought.

He shrugged, giving Dongmin a rueful smile. “Y’know. Pretty dead. Everyone’s at home avoiding the storm, I guess.”

Dongmin let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. I wish I was, too.”

Moonbin was so confused. Sure, Dongmin was never _rude_ to he or Minhyuk, and he always greeted them in the morning and said goodbye in the evenings before he left, but he’d never actually come over to the store and talked to either of them for this long. For any amount of time, really. And yet, here he was, hanging out and talking like he belonged here with the peasants, instead of next door, where real-life Disney Princes who smelled like fancy musk and dark chocolate preferred to spend their shifts.

Real-life Disney Princes who were absolutely unaware of the feelings of the pleb who worked one shop over.

“Um…” Moonbin started, giving Dongmin a doubtful look, “Why… why are you?...”

He was cut off by the loudest round of thunder yet, one that lasted quite a while and sounded like it was literally right on top of the mall, now. It went on and on, until it seemed it was almost circling right above them, and the lights began to blink again, to dim and brighten and dim again, and then, finally, they gave up.

The whole mall was plunged into darkness suddenly, the sounds of so many registers dying at once filling the silence. Moonbin groaned, forgetting about Dongmin for a moment and following procedure, walking to the front of his shop and reaching up to pull the metal gate down temporarily. When he turned around, he nearly ran _into_ his next door neighbor of sorts. Dongmin was warm. Overly warm, maybe. And trembly.

“Oh,” Moonbin said awkwardly, at the same time as Dongmin’s rushed apology. “It’s okay. Should you go lock up too?” He blinked into the dark, trying to see Dongmin in front of him. Trying to stop his hands from reaching out to find him.

“I already did, before I came over,” Dongmin replied quietly. “I thought this might happen, and I… I didn’t want to be alone.”

Moonbin frowned a little, trying to understand the words Dongmin had just said. “You didn’t… how come?” he asked, genuinely perplexed by this turn of events. He wondered if Minhyuk had gotten caught somewhere between the food court and back here, but it was far more likely he’d still been at the smoothie stand when the power went out, and just decided to stay with Jinwoo until it came on again.

He heard Dongmin sigh. “I, uh… it’s a little embarrassing, actually…” he trailed off, sounding annoyed with himself. Moonbin felt bold enough to take a chance, to feel in the darkness for some part of Dongmin that he could pat in a fashion he hoped was reassuring. Thankfully, he landed on an arm. That was possibly the least inappropriate of all the options. With his hand still on Dongmin’s arm awkwardly, Moonbin felt Dongmin give a sigh of what could have been resignation.

“I’m afraid of the dark, Binnie,” he said, finally.

The minute he’d gotten the words out, Moonbin whipped out his phone and turned the flashlight on, aiming it up and just enough away from their faces that neither of them would be blinded by the action. He glanced at Dongmin, who was biting his lip and looking away shyly. Moonbin sighed, tightening his grip on Dongmin’s arm and pulling him down to the floor with him.

“It’s okay. You’re fine. I’m here,” he said, wondering how useless the words were. He let go of Dongmin once they were sat on the floor together, leaning against the front of the register, but Dongmin didn’t let him get very far. He grabbed onto the bottom of Moonbin’s shorts instead, fingers curling around the fabric nervously.

“Sorry. I’m just. I need to hold onto someone. Okay?” Dongmin muttered.

Moonbin swallowed hard. “Okay.”

They sat in silence for a minute, listening to the storm rage outside. Well, Moonbin was listening, and Dongmin was clinging to Moonbin’s shorts. In the white glow of his phone flashlight, Moonbin watched Dongmin alternate between squeezing his eyes shut, during the thunder, and opening them wide, blinking rapidly and taking deep breaths.

Moonbin tried to think of what to do, anything he could say to help. He thought very hard for a moment about just grabbing Dongmin and kissing him good and hard. To distract him. Definitely not for any completely selfish reasons related to the crush he’d had for entire months, now.

Outside, the storm continued. It wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Not yet.

Dongmin let out a shuddery breath. “Can you talk to me, Binnie? I don’t care what it’s about. A soothing voice helps, too.”

Moonbin kind of faded out for a moment, then. He was reasonably sure that there was no way Dongmin had heard enough of his voice to know if it was soothing or not. He was also reasonably sure that, if Minhyuk’s comments were anything to go by (and they probably weren’t), Moonbin’s voice was absolutely obnoxious, a thing to be ignored at all times. He chose to ignore _that,_ for the time being.

He started talking.

“When I was young, I was scared of storms too,” he said softly. “I would hide in my bed, under the blankets. I would hold my dog so tight and just try to get through it,” Moonbin remembered, a small smile crossing his face. He didn’t dare look at Dongmin, illuminated by the light of his phone. He made himself keep going.

“I was so scared of all of it, until one day. While I was hiding under the blankets, I started to make up a story,” Moonbin said, pretending not to notice the way Dongmin was scooting closer to him, inch by inch. Pretending not to notice the way it made him feel all bubbly inside.

“I told myself that there were all these fairies in the sky, right? Or, like, some sort of creatures, I don’t know,” Moonbin amended, blushing. “I thought about how they probably get really bored just hanging out up there watching us live our lives like the idiots we are,” he continued, and Dongmin managed a short laugh. It was enough encouragement for Moonbin to go on.

“So, like, when they get extra super bored, that’s when it rains. Rain is just like...this accumulation of nature’s boredom that spills over onto us. It’s nature’s way of telling us to shut up and stop and look around once in a while. Slow down, and enjoy life,” Moonbin said. He was starting to feel silly telling Dongmin all of this, but when he glanced over out of the corner of his eye, Dongmin was listening intently. He looked less scared. So Moonbin talked some more.

“And, anyway… so that’s rain, right? And thunder… that’s the bowling,” he murmured, and then he stopped, because Dongmin had laughed a bit louder this time.

“The bowling,” Dongmin repeated. “The sky fairies. Bowling?”

Moonbin nodded, feeling his cheeks flush darker. “Yeah. They get bored and it starts raining, so all the humans go inside, of course. They don’t have anything to watch, up there. So they have a good game or two while they’re waiting. At the celestial bowling alley.”

Dongmin was smiling, when Moonbin looked down. He rested his head on Moonbin’s shoulder, and Moonbin stopped breathing, but it was okay, because Dongmin took over his story. “Yeah. The thunder is what we hear every time they throw the ball, right?”

“Mmm,” Moonbin agreed quietly.

The room lit up for a moment as lightning crossed the sky outside, flashing through the giant windows on the ceiling of the mall. Thunder sounded again, but it was more subdued. Moonbin expected Dongmin to jump, to go back to his nervous sweating. But he stayed against Moonbin’s shoulder, and Moonbin could feel Dongmin’s smile against his arm.

“And lightning?” Dongmin said next, sounding calmer. “That’s…”

Moonbin grinned. “A strike.”

Dongmin chuckled. “I like that.”

Shifting a little to let Dongmin curl closer to his chest, Moonbin shook his head in amusement. “It’s kind of dumb.”

Dongmin reached out then, covering Moonbin’s hand with his own palm. “It’s nice.”

Moonbin watched their fingers lace together in the soft light, holding his breath. Maybe he was actually asleep, dreaming all of this. It was the only explanation that made any sense to him.

“Minhyuk told me you have a crush on me,” Dongmin murmured after a while.

_Oh. Or that. Thanks, asshole._

“...oh,” Moonbin managed to choke out. His throat felt tight, suddenly.

Dongmin sat up a little. “I’ve been meaning to come over here and talk to you, but… I was kind of anxious about it. I’ve liked you since forever, actually.”

Moonbin rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

Dongmin squeezed his hand, and it made Moonbin turn and look at him, finally, and he was smiling so earnestly that Moonbin felt breathless. “No, really. I thought you were too cool for me, Binnie.”

That made Moonbin let out a real, loud laugh. “And then you came over here and I told you a story about sky fairies bowling,” he said. “Oh, my _god._ ”

“And you were nice to me. You didn’t make fun of me for this stupid fear,” Dongmin added.

Moonbin shrugged. “It’s not stupid. It’s pretty normal, really.”

Dongmin nodded. “I guess so.”

Moonbin squirmed a bit, stretching out his legs. “So now, anytime you’re feeling scared of a storm, you can come over here and I’ll talk to you, or whatever. I’ll try to help.”

Dongmin gave him a brilliant smile, pulling his own phone out of his pocket. “Sure. And maybe you can give me your phone number, just in case there’s a storm while we’re not at work,” he said quietly, a faint blush crossing his cheeks.

Swallowing (not too loudly, he hoped), Moonbin took the phone Dongmin held out to him and punched in his number obediently, then handed it back. “Yeah. And maybe you can text me, so I have your number too. Just in case I think of any more ridiculous stories you need to know about while we’re not at work,” he replied, making Dongmin giggle.

“And maybe, we could hang out sometime _not_ in the mall. Like… on a date, or something,” he said, typing quickly into his phone before he locked the screen and looked back up at Moonbin.

Moonbin’s phone vibrated with a text. He guessed it was Dongmin, so he would have his number, too, but he didn’t bother to check it. He didn’t want to move the flashlight from between them yet. He was too busy grinning like an idiot and nodding on an infinite loop. “Yeah. Yes. I’d like that. I’d like that _so_ much, Dongmin.”

Dongmin slipped his hand back into Moonbin’s. “Me too,” he whispered, and then, before Moonbin could even process what was happening, Dongmin leaned forward and kissed him.

Moonbin couldn’t quite stop a surprised little squeak falling from his lips, but Dongmin kissed it away gently, his kisses soft and sweet and enough to make Moonbin absolutely light-headed, but then, just when things were getting a bit hotter, a tad more desperate, the lights in the mall buzzed back to life.

Moonbin also could quite stop a disappointed groan coming from his throat, and it made Dongmin laugh and stop kissing, which was the most disappointing thing that happened to him, all day. Possibly all week. But, it was tempered with so much excitement and happiness at this whole situation and how it had turned out, Moonbin decided to call it even. Dongmin blinked in the brightly lit shop, getting to his feet and pulling Moonbin up with him. No matter how badly he wanted to go back to kissing, Moonbin guessed it would have been a bit unprofessional to do it right out in the middle of the shop, with the lights on, during business hours.

He sighed, walking to the gate and reopening it, Dongmin slipping out behind him. “I’m off at seven,” Dongmin told Moonbin, a hopeful look on his face.

Moonbin smiled. “Me too. Do you wanna get a Slurpee with me in the food court after work?” Never mind that Dongmin looked nothing like a person who would have ever enjoyed a Slurpee in his life. Moonbin loved them.

Dongmin’s eyes lit up. “Sure! I hope they have blue raspberry. It’s my favorite.”

_Well._

“Okay,” Moonbin said with a nod. “See you at seven, then.”

Dongmin gave him one last smile. “See you then.” He went back to the perfume shop, and Moonbin ducked back into his own store, and people were just starting to wander into the mall, now that the storm was finally ending, when Minhyuk reappeared.

“ _Yooooooo_ , that was nuts, right? I was at the smoothie stand flirting with Jinwoo as usual and then, _BOOM!_ No lights!”

Moonbin hoped he wasn’t blushing too much. “Yeah. It was pretty nuts.”

If he was being obvious about his unadulterated glee, Minhyuk wasn’t noticing. Typical.

“Yeah, so, Jinwoo and I went in the back of the stand and made out the whole time. It was premium. Also, I forgot your smoothie. Sorry, bro,” Minhyuk said unapologetically.

Moonbin just chuckled. “It’s all right. I’m gonna get a Slurpee after work anyway,” he said, pulling down a box of hats and cutting it open, arranging them on a shelf casually. He hoped it seemed casual. He really didn’t need Minhyuk asking a million questions about what _he’d_ done while the lights were out.

Minhyuk’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he watched Moonbin work. “What’s with you? You’re all weird now.”

“I’m not weird,” Moonbin answered, a little too quickly. “I’m just… having a good day,” he said with a little smile, whistling to himself as he put the hats out.

Minhyuk crossed the shop and sat down behind the counter, arms crossed, suspicious look still on his face. “We have three hours left until seven. I’ll get it out of you before then,” he decided, nodding with satisfaction.

Moonbin glanced out the open door of the shop, at Dongmin standing outside the perfumery, handing out samples and smiles to the customers starting to walk by again. After he’d finished chatting with an older woman, leaving her with at least three high-end samples to take with her, Dongmin turned and squinted into Moonbin’s shop, giving him a grin when their eyes met.

Moonbin grinned back, blushing. “Yeah, Minhyuk. Maybe you will,” he murmured, turning his attention back to the racks in front of him.


End file.
